Education system needs review

There is widespread despair over the impact of remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, likely because kids do learn better in close quarters.

Not all educators agree that isolation is a critical factor.

One of those is Erika Christakis, an early childhood educator. Christakis reminded us in a December Atlantic article that American public schools weren’t doing such a great job before the pandemic.

Christakis says that’s because remote learning is actually worsening things that make current classroom learning ineffective now. The classroom model ignores kids’ needs for exercise, conversation, play and even sleep, she said.

In addition, kids at school get bullied and many kids are more unhappy at school than anywhere else, she said.

She did not mention this, but even while America has stripped down public-school education to the needs of standardized tests, American kids still don’t do as well on them as their peers in Canada and overseas.

Christakis was more concerned that kids’ emotional well-being affects their learning. We should overhaul the whole system to weave developmental and emotional factors into the education process, she said. Among other things, she suggested more outdoor education.

Hers is just one example of what reform-minded educators are thinking.

In an article about looking at education beyond the pandemic, The Brookings Institute stated, “It is hard to imagine there will be another moment in history when the central role of education in the economic, social, and political prosperity and stability of nations is so obvious and well understood. Now is the time to chart a vision for how education can emerge stronger from this global crisis than ever before.”

I agree with Brookings that this time of disruption is an opportunity to take a long, critical look at improving how we educate our kids.

Here is my input, for what it’s worth:

Even though kids learn different subjects at different paces, we persist, as we have for generations, in education by a “factory model.” We try to make education, the product, as uniform as the gaskets stamped by a molding machine.

Christakis said some kids achieve more in remote settings, because technology allows them to learn without the miseries of school life.

I submit that the same technologies that enable remote learning also enable customized education.

I propose that kids record their learning on line through constant instruction and quizzing. In the classroom, however, teachers group kids with similar achievement levels in different areas for focused instruction as needed, with teachers coaching the kids to find solutions among themselves where possible.

The idea would be to combine technology’s amazing abilities to monitor and track progress with learning that involves human contact between teachers and students, and among students.

That’s just one, and I think this one is being used in some places.

But the dialogue should open as never before. As we prepare to resume live instruction, we should also prepare to study anew education itself.

Steve Hansen writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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